FINE ART STORAGE

Fine art and antiques require the utmost care when it comes to how they are stored. Because of the value of the things you are storing and their delicate nature, you will require an environment specifically suited to the calibre of your treasures as well as a higher level of security. At Jiffy we offer Premium Storage for your precious pieces.

The dangers of Temperature and Humidity to your Art, Antiques and Heirlooms
Fine art and antiques can often be more susceptible to temperature swings and of course mould and mildew. Extreme temperature shifts cause materials to do funny things, like water getting cold and increasing in volume. If you’ve ever had a coke bottle explode in your freezer you understand this principle very clearly. Most materials either expand or contract when they are hot or cold. Temperature affects everything. When you have two materials attached together that have different expansion properties, like antique wooden chairs or tables the lacquer finish, they might not expand or contract at the same rate as the wood they’re bonded to, causing cracking. Having a unit that is climate controlled can be especially important if your things are irreplaceable and/or expensive.

The other upside of climate control is the humidity control that comes along with it. With the exception of fire, nothing is more damaging to your things than humidity.

Humidity is a duesy. Humidity attacks everything, especially metal. This means furniture and, of course, paintings and fine art. Basically, Mother Nature is constantly trying to restore balance to the world by destroying your things. We construct buildings to protect ourselves and our possessions from the elements. Humidity is one of the most insidious of threats because it destroys things very quietly, slowly and over a long period of time. One day your art and antiques are fine, you put them away at a storage facility for months only to come back to cracks in the finish or mould and mildew on your precious piece.

The Right Degree
When you are searching for a storage solution to meet these unique challenges you are going to want to find out not only if the facility you’re choosing has climate control, but to what degree it is climate controlled. Some facilities that advertise as climate controlled allow pretty significant swings in temperatures. While this may be fine for the vast majority of things you are storing, but for fine art and antiques you may want more protection.

Jiffy’s Premium Storage units (also knows as Workspace units) are climate controlled to approximately 21 degrees Celsius summer and winter. The constant temperature also keeps the humidity at an optimal level since the system is running constantly. These units are very well suited for the storage of art and antiques.
If you want to know more about our Workspace units, click here.

Individually Alarmed Units
Another facet to consider is the increased security that comes with our Premium Storage units. All of our Premium Storage units are individually alarmed. This means that when you use the keypad to get into the building, your unit alarm alone is deactivated. This means that if someone else rents a unit next to yours and tries to gain access to your unit, the alarm will be tripped. Each unique code grants access to only one unit.

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